Ondrej Holzman Choice locations for the September keynote apparently not the least bit random on Apple's part. The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco not only means a return to the premises where the Apple II was unveiled, but above all offers a huge audience of seven thousand. That could follow the California firm's biggest conference in history, according to recent reports.
We have already informed you that we can look forward to next Wednesday, September 9 new iPhones 6S and 6S Plus, which, among other things, will bring improved cameras and a pressure-sensitive display, as well as a major update for Apple TV. The fourth generation will finally become a platform and will be a significant device in living rooms.
Mark Gurman of 9to5Mac but he's far from done with his hauls from inside Apple. Today he revealed more information about the innards and capabilities of the new Apple TV, the new iPhones and, surprisingly, also writes about the iPad Pro. It is said that Apple could introduce it as early as next week, contrary to previous assumptions.
iPhone 6S unfortunately again with 16 gigabytes
Since the September keynote is a traditional stronghold of iPhones, let's start with them. Gourmet brought confirmation, that even with the iPhone 6S, we will not see Apple increase the lowest capacity offered, which will be 16 GB again this year. Other variants will remain the same: 64 and 128 GB.
In a situation where 16GB iPhones are already running out of space due to the size of iOS updates and some games and apps, Apple's decision to keep this capacity is a disservice to customers. Especially when the new iPhones will shoot video in 4K, which will take up even more space.
Gurman also confirmed that the body of the iPhone 6S will be made of stronger aluminum with the designation 7000 Series, which Apple used for the Watch Sport. This aluminum is 60 percent stronger than conventional alloys while maintaining minimal weight.
The pricing policy should remain the same as last year, in addition to the capacities. In the United States, the iPhone 6S will cost $299, $399, and $499, respectively, at carriers with a contract. Last year's iPhone 6 will always cost a hundred dollars less, and the iPhone 5S will also remain on sale, the plastic iPhone 5C is ending.
Apple TV with a black controller, but no 4K
We already had an idea of what the fourth generation Apple TV would look like overall. Mark Gurman now brought more detailed information about the insides, capacity and price of the new set-top box.
Apparently, Apple is not planning to increase the capacity too much, when it will only offer a double version in addition to the current 8 GB. For now, however, the only thing that is certain is that the cheapest Apple TV 4 will be on sale for $149 (converted to almost 3 crowns, although the Czech price will probably be higher). But Apple is said to be considering whether it will provide a straight 600GB variant for this price, or whether there will be a higher capacity for a $16 surcharge.
Keeping the capacities low is rather surprising given that the Apple TV will open up to third-party apps, but most content will likely be streamed to the new set-top box from the internet. In addition, the Apple TV 4 will run on iOS 9, which offers several new functions to reduce the size of applications.
We also know more details about the new controller, which has been silver until now. The controller for the Apple TV 4 will be displayed in dark gray or black to match the set-top box itself, and there will be two physical buttons under the touchpad - Siri and Home. There will also be rocker buttons for volume control.
The fourth generation is expected to include the same ports as the current Apple TV, i.e. a power jack, a standard HDMI connector and a small USB port for troubleshooting and connecting to iTunes. Overall, the box with the Apple TV 4 will be very similar, only taller and thicker. And just like now, the new version is not supposed to support 4K video either.
Along with Gurman, however, John Paczkowski from BuzzFeed confirmed the presence of universal search across the entire system. This will be one of the most pleasant novelties for all current users, as universal search will significantly improve the experience of using Apple TV. As soon as you search for a movie, for example, Apple TV will show you it in all the services where it is available, so you can conveniently choose where you want to watch it.
The whole search will be closely connected with Siri, but the voice assistant from iOS is said not to be the only engine driving the universal search. Apparently, Apple has also been helped by Matcha.tv, already bought two years ago.
A big iPad Pro might be coming sooner than we thought
So far, the September keynote has been talked about as an event where the aforementioned new iPhones and Apple TV will be presented. But Mark Gurman from his sources inside Apple found out, that the keynote could be even bigger - it is possible that in a week the Californian giant will also introduce new iPads.
In recent years, they usually arrived a few weeks after the iPhones, and it was expected that this year, too, we will see new Apple tablets sometime in October. However, it is possible that Apple is already releasing a new iPad mini and a brand new iPad Pro.
Gurman is not nearly as sure about this information as he is about other products, and he himself points out that he hears more whispers inside Apple about the iPad Pro next week, and it is possible that its introduction will eventually be delayed. Currently, the sale is planned until November, with the pre-sale starting in October, however, even this would not prevent the September unveiling of the expected large tablet.
The iPad Pro, as Apple is actually planning to call it, should be less than 13 inches, it will run iOS 9.1, which would bring optimization for a larger display, and a stylus with Force Touch should also be available. Compared to the current iPads, the Pro version should have speakers on both sides for a better experience.
If the iPads do indeed appear at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium next week, a new iPad mini 4 is expected to be unveiled alongside the iPad Pro. This would be a thinner version of the smallest tablet to date and would include an A8 chip, including support for multitasking, which iOS 9 has allowed until now only on iPad Air. Apple is also said to be preparing a new version of it, but it will not be presented before next year.
New colors for Apple Watch bands
Apple will probably not present the second generation of the Watch yet, but next week it should at least reveal new color variants of its rubber bands. Rumor has it that it should be the same colors that chief designer Jony Ive showed at an event in Milan a few months ago. We could expect dark blue, light pink, red or yellow bands.
If we really get to see all the products listed above - two new iPhones, Apple TV 4, iPad Pro and iPad mini - it would be the biggest keynote in the company's history. It would easily surpass last year's event, when Apple presented the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple Watch and Apple Pay at the Flint Center in Cupertino. San Francisco's giant Bill Graham Civic Auditorium could certainly handle an event of this caliber.
ipad pro oh my. intel declared that tablets are dead and he is right. professional tablet, maximum professional brainwashing. apple is going downhill with tablets and doesn't know what to come up with anymore. I ended up with 2v1 like Microsoft Surface Pro, but he pointed out that it's a joke. but apple has screwed up countless times anyway.
I'm interested in exactly this ipad
this kind of dog is perfect for me on the road, for quick work at a client, as long as it runs on osx I'm exactly the target...
I think apple knows better than you what you want. people don't know what i want apple will come with this when it REALLY makes sense. these devices are currently at a poor level. Even multitasking on the tablet was done properly by Apple.
what about apples and pears?
aren't you schizophrenic?
You forgot the multicultural emoticon. I am personally very satisfied with my peasant iPad.
I'm afraid that iPad on OSX or some cat dog
I'm already looking forward to the keynote :D regardless of the fact that Apple iOS will be canceled now and the entire October keynote will be dedicated to Macs where I expect bigger changes, design, skylike, usb C...
In the article, you write that Apple supports multitasking in the iPad Air tablet. But isn't it actually supported since the iPad Air 2?
It depends on what you mean by multitasking. The best one, split-screen, is currently supported only by devices with 2GB of RAM, which is only the iPad Air 2.
But then there is also picture in picture and side bar. Which aren't really multitasking, but better than nothing…
If the new Apple TV will really have a maximum memory of 16 GB, I'm not really looking forward to it. And everything is already known about iPhones, just like the last few years when you watched the keynote saying “Yeah, that's what they were talking about. Yeah, that was known. Yeah, this got leaked too…”
I wonder if Apple can really surprise us with something. I hope so.
So when they produce hundreds of pieces a day a month or two before the show, it's clear that some information will get out. Especially when journalists are willing to pay for it.
It would be good if they combined the events (Introduction of iPhones and a month later iPads) together. After all, there are not so many big news in the second (I guess usually October) event.
It's a shame that before the last events, you usually already know almost everything...